PEARL, Miss. (AP) - William H. Dodson, who was superintendent of the Pearl schools when a gunman shot and killed two people and injured seven others on a high school campus in 1997, has died at the age of 77.
Connie Adcock with Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home in Pearl says Dodson died Tuesday. A cause of death was not made public.
Dodson served 18 years as superintendent of the Pearl School District.
On Oct. 1, 1997, Luke Woodham, a 16-year-old sophomore, shot nine students. Two died and seven were wounded. The incident sparked nationwide efforts to make schools safer.
Dodson wrote a book on the incident entitled “If Only I Had Known.”
Services are 11 a.m. Saturday at McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl.
Survivors include his wife, Nancey; two daughters; and eight grandchildren.
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